CONCERNED residents in Tetbury have hit out at their social housing provider for allowing younger people to move in to an area traditionally populated by retirees.

Most of the residents in the bungalows in the St Mary’s Road area owned by Bromford Housing Association are elderly and are angry the association has recently allowed as young as 30 to move into some of the vacant homes.

At a recent meeting of the Tetbury Tenant’s Association, acting chairman Kevin Painter said residents were becoming increasingly concerned about the issue.

“We have an area where retired people are very happily living and young people come in and change the whole area,” he said. “This is a real problem.

“When you get to a certain age you want to retire – we are living longer and there are more elderly and there’s got to be some plans for them.

“I’m not saying we don’t want younger people here, but we need to look at what’s best for families

“We don’t live in utopia, we know some things are just going to happen but you have to look at what’s best for the community.”

Tenant’s association co-organiser Sue Raines said tensions were high over the problem.

“It just doesn’t work – they don’t mix with the people who are already here,” she said. “We can’t blame the kids, they’ve got nowhere to go, but it doesn’t work and there’s a huge amount of trouble.”

A spokesman from Bromford said, although the homes on St Mary’s Road had been used for sheltered housing in the past, they had become available for general use five years ago.

She added the housing provider had recently discussed with residents the idea of giving a preference to customers over 50 with a connection to the town.

“In response, we are currently drafting a lettings plan to set out future allocation of these homes,” she said.

“We intend to give greater access for older customers whilst also making sure our adapted homes go to those customers who need them, which makes best use of our homes and our resources.”